How do they compare to using something like a pair of hemostats, more a hold, but not grip like pliers, but long and skinny. What sorts of things are you using them for?
First, the hemostats would clearly reach into a more confining or retricted space because of the smaller size, but you might notice the overall length shown in the ad to be 16" which allows for quite a substantial reach into tight quarters spaces; in fact greater by several inches that you could ever reach with the hemostats.
The two instances I found them to be absolute lifesavers involved work on the wifes 1992 Lincoln Town car. The first time I discovered that a sheet metal screw had inexplicably lodged itself sideways in the deep recessed plug hole on one of the heads and was quite literally dug into the aluminum walls of the bore above the spark plug. The plug was still in place under the screw so there was never a worry about the screw dropping on down in the head. I never did figure out how long the screw had been there, or how it got there in the first place! If you are familiar with the 4.6 engine found in these cars you already know that the drop from the surface of the camshaft cover (looks like a conventional valve cover) to the plug is a goodly distance, perhaps as much as a good 8"! The bore for this hole is really not much greater than the diameter of the spark plug socket you use to remove the plug with. In this instance the overall length and slim design of the straight needle nose pliers allowed me to reach deep into the recess and get a firm grasp on the pliers to finally remove the tightly dug in screw; if did not have the additional length to generate a substantial amount of grip on these pliers I have no idea how I would have removed that screw.
The second instance I was changing the rear shocks on this car (another space confining nightmare) to change the rear shocks on these cars you actually must put about a foot long metal cutting blade in a sawzall and cut the top post and bushing from the shock; as they are located well inside of the wheel well with such a narrow window to work in that few wrenches and no socket setup would ever work for the removal of the shocks. I used these long pliers again to retrieve the cut off portions of the shocks, and also to delicately reach in and start the new nut on the top threaded post of the shock (you really have to hold your mouth right to accomplish this) Once the new nut was started the only wrench I own that allowed me to reach the nut and actually run it down tight was a long thin tappet wrench, and then just barely. To give an idea of what an ordeal this was it took every bit of 30 minutes on each nut on the rear to run them down tight as all I was able to get with each turn of the wrench was perhaps an 1/8th of a turn!
So there you have my two long winded reasons I found these cheap pliers to be lifesavers.
